SC to hear challenge to HC order on Indian Mission visa tenders

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on July 20 the Centre’s plea against a Delhi High Court verdict setting aside the tender awarded to private firms for outsourcing Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) services at Indian missions in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was urged by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the high court’s decision has made rendering of visa and other services at these places difficult.

The CJI agreed to hear the plea on Monday.

While setting aside the tender awarded to private firms for outsourcing CPV services, the high court had directed the Centre to issue a fresh Request for Proposals (RFP), inviting fresh bids.

The solicitor general said that fresh tenders were awarded following the procedure, but no new entity can start functioning straightaway, and as a result, such services have almost become dysfunctional.

In its verdict, the high court said that while taking the decision, the Centre relied on undisclosed comparative standards, made unexplained deductions under objective evaluation criteria, and adopted inconsistent marking.

The court said that these deficiencies struck at the very heart of transparency, fairness and equality in the public procurement process.

“The use of undisclosed comparative standards, unexplained deductions under objective criteria, inconsistent marking and complete absence of recorded reasons strikes at the heart of transparency, fairness and equality in public procurement.

Therefore, exclusion of a lower bidder on the basis of an arbitrary evaluation process is not merely an individual grievance but also raises concerns of public interest under Article 14 of the Constitution,” the high court said. The technical evaluation processes are set aside, the high court said. 

“Consequently, the award of tender in favour of the private respondents shall also stand nullified. Respondent numbers 1 and 2 are directed to issue a fresh RFP for procurement of CPV services across all four Missions, namely, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kuwait, Singapore and Canberra (Australia), within a period of one month from the date of this judgment and make sincere efforts to conclude the process at the earliest,” the court said.

The verdict was delivered on petitions filed by two unsuccessful bidders, E Trav Tech Limited and Verasys Limited.

The firms had participated in the tender process but were disqualified at the technical evaluation stage, since they had failed to secure the minimum 70 per cent marks to qualify for opening of their financial bids.  They then challenged the communications, declaring them unsuccessful.